OFFICE OF THE CHAIRPERSON

ILPS CONDEMNS THE BAN ON DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATIONS

AND THE ARREST OF THE REVOLUTIONARY POET VARVARA RAO

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee

International League of Peoples’ Struggle

We, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, condemn in the strongest terms the Reddy Government of Andhra Pradesh for banning many democratic and revolutionary organizations together with the Communist Party of India (Maoist), for undertaking brutal repressive actions against the cadres and mass activists of the revolutionary democratic movement and for arresting the revolutionary poet Varvara Rao.

In this regard, we join the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India in criticizing and condemning the central and state governments for reverting to naked terror tactics against the ongoing revolutionary struggle of the oppressed and exploited people. The ban imposed on 17th August 2005 is a callous act of desperation of the state after failing to hoodwink and intimidate the people with the malicious slogan of “peace talks or else”.

The talks had broken down because the reactionary state is unwilling to address the root causes of the civil war, to take up basic reforms and to accord the revolutionary negotiators with safety and immunity guarantees. The reactionary state is merely interested in seeking the disarming and capitulation of the revolutionary forces and people led by CPI (Maoist).

The anti-democratic ban and fascist onslaughts can only further incite the revolutionary forces and people of India to wage people’s war in order to achieve national and social liberation against the semicolonial and semifeudal system. The state of India is further exposed as an instrument of oppression and exploitation and as a shameless puppet of the imperialists and their multinational corporations.

We call on all participating organizations of the ILPS and all friendly organizations and personages in the world to express, in the form of statements and protest mass actions, solidarity with and support for the democratic organizations and individuals under fascist attack in India and demand that their democratic rights be respected and that the onslaughts against them be ended. We are united with the Indian people in undertaking a mass movement to protest the fascist ban and raise democratic demands.

We demand that the reactionary state lift its fascist ban and stop its criminal acts not only against the CPI (Maoist), Radical Youth League, Radical Students Union, Raitu Coolie Sangham, Singareni Karmika Samakhya, Viplava Karmika Samakhya, All India RevolutionaryStudents Federation and Revolutionary Writers Association but also against all the broad masses of the Indian people. We likewise demand the unconditional and immediate release of Varvara Rao, the well-known poet and leader of the people.

The real terrorists in the world are the US and other imperialist powers launching wars of aggression and pushing their puppet states to carry out the rule of open terror. They use their wholesale terrorism in order to plunder the world and shackle the working people to a life of poverty and misery. Thus, the ILPS is always urging the people of the world to rise up and assert their national and democratic rights against imperialism and the local reactionaries.